1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly to a device and method for inputting characters on a mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a mobile terminal has a keypad provided with keys numbered 0 to 9 and symbol keys # and * to enable a user to input characters or numbers. Since the keypad has a limited number of keys, a plurality of characters are mapped on each key so that the user can input desired characters and numbers using the limited number of keys. The user can input a character by selecting a character input mode and pressing a corresponding key once or more times according to the order in which the character is imprinted on the key. Particularly, to input Korean characters (Hangul), the user has to repeatedly press keys until a desired character or syllable is created according to the writing system of Hangul.
A conventional method of inputting a special character or a symbol on a mobile terminal is to search for the special character or the symbol in a special character input mode and press a corresponding key. In other words, the user has to search for the desired special character or symbol and select it by pressing a corresponding key.
According to the conventional method, the user has to press keys until a desired character or syllable is created according to the writing system of the corresponding alphabet. To input a special character or a symbol, the user has to search for the character or the symbol through key-pressings, which is cumbersome and time-consuming.
Moreover, only the special characters and symbols previously stored in the mobile terminal can be searched and input. It is not possible to input any special character or symbol which has not been previously stored in the mobile terminal. Accordingly, there is a limitation in inputting every desired characters or symbols according to the conventional character input method.